Every year I start brassicas indoors in the winter and while my tomatoes seem to do great the brassicas never really bush out and look vigorous like the ones you can buy at the nursery.

I have tweaked my set up over the years and keep the seedlings real close to the lights as well as have a small fan running on them. I try to watch them carefully for moisture levels and give them seaweed powder. Still they tend to be spindly-looking and are slow growing once set out.

I started a fall batch about 3 weeks ago and the same thing is happening again. I have moved them all to 3 inch pots but they still look a bit leggy to me. My concern is that they will not produce well in the garden.

Any opinions on what I may be doing wrong? How I can improve? Also, when is the optimum time to set these transplants out (zone 7)?

thanks so much for any help!